During CES HP announced a refresh of its Spectre x360 series of convertible tablet PCs. The 13” Spectre x360 will shortly be joined by a new 15” version and both notebooks will be powered by Skylake processors.

There are not many details on the Spectre x360 13 available, but HP did reveal a new display option in the form of a 2560 x 1440 OLED panel. Thanks to the OLED not requiring a separate backlight, HP was able to make the notebook slightly thinner and 50 grams lighter than the current 13” Spectre x360. It will also feature Bang & Olufsen audio. This OLED-equipped refresh will be available in spring for an as-yet-unannounced price.

HP was more forthcoming with information on the Spectre x360 15. Featuring the same 360° hinge and general design as its smaller sibling, it weighs just over 4 pounds (1.83kg) and measures 15.9mm (0.63”) thick. A silver colored body made of machined aluminum surrounds silver keys (1.5mm key travel) and while there is no number pad, there is a rather wide trackpad sitting below the keyboard. Bang & Olufsen audio, a webcam, USB 3.0, USB-C, Mini DisplayPort, HDMI, audio jack, and SD card round out the I/O options. The display options top out at a resolution of 3840 x 2160 here though this is an LED backlit panel not OLED.

HP is using Intel Core i5 or i7 (depending on configuration) “Skylake” processors with Intel Iris graphics to drive the 4K display. There are no discrete GPU options so gaming at native resolution is out, but the Iris graphics will be plenty for everything else. It can be further configured with up to 16GB of memory and 1TB of solid state storage. A 64.5Wh battery offers up to 9.5 hours of productivity.

We’ll have to wait a few months for pricing on the 13” refresh, but the Spectre x360 15 will start at $1,149 in February. It is a bit pricey, but not out of line with the competition. There are even reviews popping up around the Internet if you are interested in this thin-and-light convertible.

We saw a preview of HP's new Spectre x360 back in March, today The Inquirer has put up a quick hands on look at the Skylake powered laptop. The touchscreen resolution will satisfy most users, at 13.3" 2560x1440 but the shiny coating on it may not. While the keyboard does hinge completely over to allow you to use the device in tablet mode, however The Inquirer found it a bit heavy to be comfortable while using it as such. For peripheral support you have three USB 3.0 ports, a mini DisplayPort, a full-size HDMI port and a SD card reader. The 2.5GHz dual core i7-6500U is paired with 8GB of RAM and there was a 512GB SSD installed in the model The Inquirer spent some time with. Check it out here.

"Regardless, the recent launches of Windows 10 and Intel's 6th-generation Core processors - nicknamed Skylake - have prompted a refresh of HP's portable PCs. We went hands-on at a preview event in London to see what, besides an updated CPU, the latest Spectre x360 has to offer."

Tomorrow at 10 am ET, Microsoft will host a live stream to announce “new Windows 10 devices from Microsoft”. It's pretty obvious that we'll get at least one new Surface device announced, which rumors suggest will be the Surface Pro 4 with a low-bezel, 13-inch display. W4pHub, via VR-Zone, goes a bit further to claim that the display can shrink to 12 inches when in tablet mode, giving a frame for the user to hold. If true, I wonder how applications will handle the shift in resolution. Perhaps the only problem is a little flicker, which will be hidden by the rest of Continuum's transition?

While the rush of Windows 10 devices have missed the Back to School season, despite Microsoft's attempts to rush development with a July release, it looks like we might get a good amount of them for the holiday season. I was a bit worried, seeing how slowly Threshold 2 seems to be advancing, but they seem to have convinced OEMs to make a big deal out of it.

The Carrizo based AMD Pro A12 APU is going to be familiar to anyone who read our coverage of the non-Pro Carrizo models. The A12 will have a boost clock of 3.4GHz, eight 800MHz Radeon R7 cores, 2MB of L2 cache, and hardware based HEVC decoding, exactly like the FX-8800P. Indeed there is nothing obvious that differentiates the two processors apart from AMD's tag line that the Pro models are designed for corporate desktops and laptops. The Inquirer lists three laptops which should already be available which use the new mobile processor, the HP EliteBook 725, 745 and 755. No news yet on Godavari Pro powered desktops.

"AMD HAS ANNOUNCED its "most powerful" line of Pro A-Series mobile and desktop processors, formerly codenamed Carrizo Pro and Godavari Pro."

As we reported a while ago, Hewlett-Packard is planning to split into two. The move will separate the consumer products into “HP Inc” and enterprise products into “Hewlett-Packard Enterprise”. This makes sense, because enterprise clients know the full name, but many consumers probably do not. At the time, it was expected to result in 5000 jobs lost, resulting in 55,000 since the upper management focused on cutting expenses. Now, about a year later, and right before the split happens, we find out that 5000 is now well over 30,000, bringing the 55,000 figure to between 85,000 and 95,000.

These are fairly severe cuts, but it depends on how you look at it. A typical corporate restructure is around 10% of employees as a rule of thumb. If you count the slow, rolling job cuts as a single restructure, then the Hewlett-Packard Company has cut about 25% - 30% of their workforce, albeit offset by some hiring and rehiring that naturally won't be reported on as much as cuts.

If you look at this deal as a single restructure however, then it is between 10-15%, which is somewhat normal. Personally, I would say that this is the slightly more honest way of reporting on the issue. These cuts are on the severe side, but I don't think it spells trouble for the companies (although it is terrible for the employees).

The Register has heard from HP and the rumours are indeed true; you will be able to pre-orderd devices from them with which will arrive with Windows 10 installed on July 29th, they will even cover shipping within the US for you. Retail stores are unlikely to have them that early, more likely you will see them arriving the following week depending on when the store's scheduled shipping date is. The mid-August into October date that was quoted is specifically for business customers and does not apply to the stores or the website. The tight turn around gives you a look at how desperate computer retailers are, and Microsoft as well for that matter, to increase flagging sales.

"HP got on the phone with The Register on Wednesday to shed light on how it plans to roll out PCs with Windows 10 preinstalled. The IT giant said you can expect at least some of its hardware to be available with the new OS on the day that it launches – July 29."

IBM will be making its Spectrum Scale software available on Seagate's ClusterStore HPC products, which are due out towards the end of the year. This marks a turning point in Seagate's HPC business as previously their products were only useful to a small group of companies which used the Lustre file system, moving to IBM's product grows the available pool of customers significantly. HP will be adding their Apollo software suite into the deal making this even more attractive for potential clients. As The Inquirer points out, this is part of the shift of international companies moving their data out of US borders, good news for ISPs and data providers in the rest of the world but not such good news for those looking for employment in the industry within the USA.

"SEAGATE HAS JOINED FORCES with HP and IBM in a bid to boost its position in the high-performance computing (HPC) market."

Non-volatile memory technology is now at a turning point where we find out which technology will be doomed to be BETAMAX and which will carry on to become the VHS equivalent; hopefully that analogy is not too accurate as VHS was not the better of the two. Allyn discussed the reasons why the market is looking for a new technology back in 2012 and his predictions that NAND still had some life in it have been proven over the past few years but we are seeing new limitations with the current technology.

In the past we have covered HP's Resistive RAM, also called a Memrisitor, which has been in development for many years but has finally appeared in some Panasonic microcomputers which control sensors. STT-MRAM, spin transfer torque magnetoresistive random access memory, is Toshiba's project and while we still haven't seen any product it has been in development for more than 3 years and news of prototypes should arrive soon. Lastly is NRAM, nano-RAM so named for the use of carbon based nanotubes in its design which is being developed by Nantero.

It is Nantero which is in the news today, having secured $31.5 million in funding this year, triple what they have seen in previous years according to the numbers The Inquirer has. This particular technology offers densities in the terabytes per chip, storage which requires no active power source once written to and data retention of over 1,000 years at 85 degrees Celsius. The speeds should match those expected from STT-RAM but at a fabrication price closer to the much lower cost RRAM; don't hold off buying your next SSD but do not think that market is going to get boring any time soon.

HP's Sprout is a 23" 1080p touchscreen all-in-one PC powered by a Core-i7 4790S and a GT 745A, fairly run of the mill as far as that form factor goes, but it also includes the so called HP Illuminator. That device is part of the stand and sits above the top of the screen, it has a DLP projector paired with an Intel RealSense 3D camera as well as a more traditional 14.6MP camera. The DLP projector is used to project a virtual workspace onto a 20-point capacitive touch mat placed in in front of the Sprout, not only increasing the area you have to work in but offering some unique interface options.

With the RealSense camera you can easily scan 3D objects and save them as .obj files which makes the partnership with Dremel make more sense, scan a real life object and then start printing it from their 3D printer, the Idea Creator. The touch mat will also work with the Adonit Jot Pro stylus included with the system for those who prefer to use one when creating and can also help with creating in so called blended reality. MAKE has a video of the device that will have you making 3D objects like you were a Dimac master named Barry. For our overseas readers, if you happen to have an HP store somewhere near you then you can pop in and try the Sprout to see if it is as impressive as it sounds.

"It’s a powerful concept, and today at MakerCon, HP’s Sprout division (a MakerCon and Maker Faire sponsor) announced a partnership with Dremel to help move toward a full-cycle approach. Dremel’s 3D printer, the thousand-dollar Idea Builder, was featured in Make:‘s 3D printing issue last year, and performed well."

3D displays have had limited success in the gaming market, while interesting most gamers have instead opted for high resolution and high refresh rate monitors over 3D. However there is great potential for 3D displays in professional applications such as CAD/CAM and medicine; imaging actually seeing a 3D representation of a model or organ instead of trying to visualize it from a 2D screen. NitroWare.net had a change to see the HP Zvr 23.6-inch Virtual Reality Display in action and you can too by following the link.

"HP Australia gave NitroWare.net an exclusive preview in Sydney of its new zSpace powered 3D Virtual Reality Monitor aimed to complement its professional desktop and mobile workstation line. The Zvr Display introduces head-tracking and an interactive stylus to enable 3D/VR interactivity and manipulation via an off-the-shelf product from a mass-market OEM."